


They are not the same

by Bacner



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU - anthropomorphic animals, Drabble, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Uneasy Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-07-15 21:43:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7239688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Across the multiverse, Grant Ward the thylacoleo (a marsupial lion) and Kara Palamas the thylacosmilus (a marsupial sabretooth) have to figure out where they stand in relation to each other, if at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> None of the characters are mine, but belong to their respective owners.

Kara Palamas honesty does not know what to make of Grant Ward. The big male is colored wrong, is built all wrong, and while he doesn’t smell wrong, he doesn’t smell right either – by all common sense she should be staying away from him, for while he is colored wrong and built wrong, he is still built in a very manly way, especially with those forelimbs of his, and she is a female, she is weaker than the male of her species would be, and she suspects that if it came to a straight-out fight, he will win easily.

And then there are those teeth of his. Yes, they look ridiculous – all short, and thick, and flattened front and bottom, but she had seen them in action, they are powerful, (Grant is all about power, there is no finesse that Kara and her kind are famous for), and if Grant bit her for real, then it would be the end for her.

…Okay, so far he has never bit her, and instead used those powerful teeth of his to bite through things that she, with her own canines, never could – things like cartilage and bone, for example. If she had been forced to eat those things, she would just break her teeth and starve. Instead, Grant is eating them (and looks none worse the wear, the male bastard), while deferring to Kara and allowing her to eat the softer foods that she is supposed to eat. He is stronger than she is, and he is deferring to her. This is annoying, this is – not right, Kara must reach out and do something about it.

But what?

/ / /

Grant Ward honestly does not know what to make of Kara Palamas. The slim female is colored wrong, is built all wrong, and while she doesn’t smell wrong, she doesn’t smell right either – by all common sense he should be staying away from her, for while she is colored wrong and built wrong, she is still built in a very feminine way, especially with those long legs of hers, and he is a male, he is slower than the female of his species would be, and he suspects that if it came to a straight-out fight, she would defeat him easily.

And then there are those teeth of hers. Yes, they look ridiculous – long and thin and flattened on the sides, but he has seen them in action, they are deadly, (and Kara is deadly, even if she is looking re-fined while doing so), and if Kara bit him for real, then she would kill him easily.

…Okay, so far she has never bit him, and instead used her superior skills to be the main breadwinner in their partnership, (but yes, he has been pulling his weight, thank you very much), so he actually has no problem deferring to her. Yes, she is a female, he is a male, he should be dominating her, but she is not his female, and he can learn from his experiences. Still, he does not know if this partnership is going to last, and he wants it to, for he does not want to be alone anymore, so he must do something about it.

But what?

End


	2. Chapter 2

The first time that Grant Ward saw Kara's ex, he wasn't impressed. He was also mistaken, but...

"But let me get this straight," he muttered some time before that, as he listened to Kara's story, (he had told his first, because it needed to be told). "You dated Morse first, then after she switched over to Hunter after all, but Morse got to you first and tried to bury you in Hydra?"

"Yes," Kara nodded, timidly and miserably. "What are you going to do about it?"

"First we're going to get your face fixed, and then what..." Grant eyed Kara's teeth, (so unlike his own). "...what shall be done about your teeth?"

"Nothing," Kara shrugged. "They grow back to their old length naturally. This is something of a relief actually..." she blushed, (though you couldn't easily tell with the fur in place - _it_ had already grown back, thank God). "What do you want to do?"

"Wrong question," Grant pinched his nose. "What we _need_ is new ID's and a place where S.H.I.E.L.D. won't go anytime soon. Or Hydra." He looked away. "I'm done with S.H.I.E.L.D., mind, and they are done with me - hopefully. What about you?"

"Me?" Kara blinked.

"You," Grant nodded solemnly. "Want to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D.? I gather that you used to be a scholarship girl-"

"Pass," Kara shook her head, meekly at first, but then much more decisively. "I'm different from you, my reasons are different from you," she gulped, toned down her attitude by a lot and took a submissive poise. Grant, however, didn't lash out or anything, but listened attentively to her, so Kara perked back up...because that's who she was, apparently, in a default mode. "...I'm done with S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, so that's that." She paused and added, more cautiously. "Where can we go, though? We cannot stay here..."

"And here's where?" Grant raised an eyebrow - he had been recovering from shot wounds, so he was slightly out of it.

"Florida," Kara confessed. "North America, USA. Can we go somewhere else? S.H.I.E.L.D. has too much oomph in these parts still..."

Grant grew thoughtful. "Whitehall is dead, yes?" he asked, only half-rhetorically - you never knew with heads of Hydra, after all.

"I hope so," Kara hissed, her teeth fully bared right now.

"Good, that makes our lives so much easier," Grant drummed his fingers. "I got rid of my family a while back, but some of their associates still remain; the compromising material is still valid. We'll make a deal with Talbot and his associates in exchange for immunity and that'll set S.H.I.E.L.D. back for a while too..."

"Why?" Kara said quietly. "Why do we need Talbot and his associates?"

"Because," it was Grant's turn to look for approval, "life...life is a tapestry, Kara, with all the strands interconnected. It can be a rich one, it can be a poor one, but it is still a tapestry. We cannot succeed alone, not in the long run. Even if Hydra won't come calling, S.H.I.E.L.D. will, and do you want to deal with them?"

"No," Kara shook her head, "but the American military?"

"It will be a - 'minimalist' deal," Grant said firmly. "Information in exchange for immunity. It isn't perfect, it can backfire, but it's the best plan that _I_ can come up with on the spur of the moment. You want to give plotting a try?"

"No," Kara shook her head. "Not now. Maybe later. S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. went to the shadows; it feeds on secrets more than it did when Fury was in charge," Grant exhaled. "I reckon that once we come into the light and reveal the truth about ourselves, S.H.I.E.L.D. won't be that interested in us anymore," he looked away. Kara patted him on the shoulder: both of them were aware that if it'd been just her, S.H.I.E.L.D. would've been more welcoming to her as a potential returnee, but Kara was telling the truth, she _was_ done with them; Bobbi Morse may've not been the only type of agent in the Department, but she was the main reason as to why Kara had joined them in the first place, and now it was all ruined, it was all gone.

Maybe if Kara wasn't herself, but someone else, she would've risen from the ashes and became an even better agent. ...Because the Faustus method was beginning to wear off at last and she was returning to her old self, she had no intention of doing so.

"Let's go," she said instead. "The future awaits."

_TBC_


End file.
